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Pianist steve bARTa is a composer, author, producer and recording artist. Lending his talent to symphonic orchestras, film scores, jazz ensembles, and solo piano, his original compositions reflect a great diversity of style. Steve is perhaps best known for fusing Classical, American style Jazz and Brazilian influences to create a sound that is distinctly bARTa.

Steve's orchestral works include: Heritage Suite, A Midwest Dream (solo piano and orchestra) and several pieces for jazz quartet and orchestra. The debut performance of Heritage Suite was performed in the Czech Republic in 1991 with symphonic orchestra.

Steve currently has 14 recorded works. After debut album Rossport, Steve teamed up with Jazz great Herbie Mann to create the Brazilian influenced Blue River. These recordings have received wide critical acclaim and radio airplay across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Canada. His “Another Life Brazil” CD features a wonderful ensemble of masters; Hubert Laws, Dori Caymmi, Paulinho DaCosta, Mike Shapiro, Jerry Watts, Lee Trees and includes Herbie Mann’s very last studio session on the title track.

Steve's well-loved solo piano release, Moments in Movement, includes a symphonic arrangement of his “Midwest Dream” recorded on tour in Eastern Europe with symphonic orchestra. Each recording of original songs has its own striking sound yet captures Steve's distinctive style.

His 5 successful Holiday recordings reveal his talent in interpreting and arranging classics. All of Steve's recordings and books are available exclusively on the Steve Barta Music label at: http://www.stevebARTamusic.com

Steve authored The Source (Hal Leonard Publishing), a multi-instrumental scale/chord dictionary, in 1986 to wide critical acclaim. Now in its 2nd Edition, The Source teaches the basic tenets of jazz improvisation by educating the reader about the harmonic possibilities between scales and chords. It is widely used by Classical teachers as well, as a resource for proper fingerings for piano, and a teaching/practice book for all instruments.

From the Classical world, some of the endorsements include Jeffrey Biegel, who states, “As a classically trained artist, I place high value on accessing this material. It is indeed a treasure to be able to access information of scales, modes, and chords in one title.” From the Jazz world, Dave Brubeck states, “If I were starting to learn my scales, modes, and chords all over again, I think The Source would be the most expedient resource because it is clear, concise, and applicable.” Marian McPartland states, “What a great book! Everything is so simple and easy to understand…A must for students, educators, and me!” Other endorsements include, Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Modern Drummer Magazine, John Bayless, Richard Glazier, David Amram and others to numerous to mention.

Barta states; “For me, endorsements are important, because they validate a product by people in the industry that I have a high degree of respect for.”

Used by musicians and educational systems worldwide, The Source has become the standard in the music industry. A Japanese edition of The Source is available through Zenon Publishing in Japan. Also published by Hal Leonard is Steve's transcription for piano titled Christmas Around the World. Steve has published numerous piano arrangements for Hal Leonard Publishing.His books are quite unique, in that they are designed as transcriptions from the original recordings, so the books include the matching CD.

Steve, a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado, spends most of his time composing. He accepts a limited number of private commissions each year, ranging from solo piano to full symphonic works. His hobbies include hiking, biking, gardening and the marital arts.